Bates Motel series finale: Freddie Highmore raises Dylan question
Before we let go of the Bates Motel series finale once and for all, it does feel appropriate to ask one more important question when it comes to Dylan — did he kill Norman Bates because he wanted to, or did he do so as an act of self-defense?
What makes this entire question so interesting is that Dylan tonight clearly brought the gun to the motel, well aware that something terrible could happen. He also refused to let alone other than himself deal with him, much to the chagrin of Emma. He could’ve been locked away, but there was almost a sense in him somewhere, regardless of if he wanted to admit to it or not, that he was doing Norman a favor by putting him out of his misery.
This is a question that Freddie Highmore himself took on after the fact to TVLine, where he had the following to say about the subject of Dylan’s actions:
“… [I] think it’s interesting to evaluate whether Dylan [killed Norman] by choice or whether we think that it was this act of self-defense. I like to think it was a decision [because it’d] be such a strong end for Dylan to get to the place where he thinks that the best thing for Norman is to kill him and do it by choice as opposed to out of a summary action.”
We do ultimately agree with what Highmore says here, but we’re glad that the show left that fairly open-ended. In general, we want to think that Dylan realized in some form what was best for both himself and his family, and he decided to move forward from there as he goes about the rest of his life. In general, the open-ended attitude seems to be the best way to go when looking at the entire series. We want to believe that in the aftermath of all of this, we’re going to see Dylan have an opportunity to really move forward and find another way to live. There is no guarantee of that, but it’s much better to think of things in a more hopeful sense than the alternative, which just feels to us miserable and extremely sad to ponder over where he is haunted for the rest of his days.
What do you think was behind Dylan’s action in the series finale? Be sure to share now in the comments!